Giver (Giver Quartet), The

Lois Lowry

Soon to be a major motion picture, The Giver, the 1994 Newbery Medal winner, has become one of the most influential novels of our time. The haunting story centers on twelve-year-old Jonas, who lives in a seemingly ideal, if colorless, world of conformity and contentment. Not until he is given his life assignment as the Receiver of Memory does he begin to understand the dark, complex secrets behind his fragile community. Lois Lowry has written three companion novels to The Giver, including Gathering Blue, Messenger, and Son.

If you like futuristic books you might like this book. This story is about a boy named Jonas and his weird but perfect comunity. Is there something weird about his comunity? You'll have to read and find out.

A very interesting read that shows what happens when a culture fears differences to the point where climate and color are taken away from a community. If this is utopia, I'll stick with the world we live in. A good introduction for middle school students to the ideas of utpopia and dystopia while also talking about emotions and pain, and what role this plays in our society.
A good introduction for middle school students to the ideas of utpopia and dystopia while also talking about emotions and pain, and what role this plays in our society. I would love to pair this with Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury to show the students the predecessors of their favorite contemporary dystopian novels.

What would you sacrifice to have a life of peace and tranquility? In The Giver by Lois Lowry, Jonas lives in a society where everyone is equal, where there is no pain, no jealousy, and few worries. There is also no color, no passion, and little creativity. Jonas will soon discover what the founders of his society were willing to give up to create their utopia, and will have to decide if he will use his unique ability to maintain the status quo, or to force a change.
The Giver has a lexile measure of 760, making it a good read for late elementary students, and an easy read for middle schoolers. It can be used to introduce the science fiction genre and the utopian/dystopian fiction subgenre. It has a clear plot structure and easy to identify examples of symbolism and foreshadowing for use in an introductory unit on literary structure and devices. It also touches on topics including individuality, societal responsibility, adolescence, and euthanasia that could spur interesting classroom discussions, especially with older middle school students.
I enjoyed The Giver, and would recommend it to fans of dystopian fiction. It is a quick and easy read with layers of complexity that can be accessed by more advanced readers. Audible has an excellent audiobook version available, and the movie version follows the book pretty closely. Those who enjoy this novel will also enjoy the rest of the quartet.

July 23, 2008Review By: Shauna BoydA touching, thought provoking story giving insight into life without choice and agency, free from pain and sorrow, yet at the same time, void of a true understanding of joy and love. This is a perfect picture of what life would be like had we all be forced to partake of Satan's plan in the pre-existence.Yes, there is pain, and there is sorrow, but if we did not taste the bitter, we could not know the sweet. We are made for larger ends than earth can encompass. Let us be thankful for those luminous moments that jar us into a profound awareness to how much we have, how much we have escaped, and how much there is to be grateful for.